Govt probing incidents of tax evasion, money laundering in IPL

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday made it clear that his ministry has been investigating into two aspects of whether there was tax evasion and money laundering in the IPL and it has nothing to do with other issues concerning the Twenty20 event.

"So far as IPL is concerned we are looking into two angles. One is about tax evasion or avoidance angle and the other is whether there was money laundering. Except these two areas there is no other angle which the Finance ministry or the Income Tax department is looking into," Mukherjee said.

"If there was tax evasion and avoidance the Income Tax officials will look into it. These are the statutory responsibilities of the tax officials. They have been vested with this power and authority by the Act of Parliament and they don't need any approval or concurrence from anybody," he told NDTV.

"Regarding the management of the sporting event, its character and how it was conducted, these are not under the purview of Income Tax department," he said.

Asked about the alleged phone tapping of Union Minsiter and former Cricket Board President Sharad Pawar, Mukherjee, who is also the leader of the Lok Sabha, said, "I myself had not listened to any such tape, very honestly. That is not my job."

Following now suspended IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi's revelation of share holding patterns of Kochi franchisee owners which led to the resignation of former junior foreign minister Shashi Tharoor, Income Tax officials surveyed BCCI and IPL headquarters in Mumbai besides offices of franchise owners throughout the country.

Modi was later suspended by the Board after the IPL final on April 26 and served show cause notice for financial irregularities in running the Twenty20 event to which he had replied on May 15.